ESP - Electronic Stability Program - uses sensors to determine if the car is moving in the direction that you intend it to - based on what you are doing with the steering wheel and brakes. If it senses that the car is sliding out of control, not going in the direction you intend, it applies one or more of the brakes to help correct the over or under-steer situation.

ESP also uses Automatic Slip Control (ASR) to help correct these conditions. ESP helps to eliminate wheel spin by reducing engine power and applying brakes.

If you get stuck in the snow, you might want to be able to spin the tires in forward and reverse quickly to help rock the car free. Turning off ESP turns off ASR which will allow you to spin the wheels all you want. Although, I've seen some people floor their stuck cars, spinning the tires wildly in the snow, only to make the situation worse.

You also might want to turn off ESP if you are racing the car at an auto-cross track. This will allow you to take turns more aggressively and have full power available to accelerate out of the turn even if it means some wheel spin and the rear end sliding a bit. With ESP on, the engine power would be reduced and one or more brakes applied as soon as the car sensed wheel spin or that the car was headed in a direction not indicated by the steering wheel position.

Or - if you just want to do doughnuts in the parking lot, it'll be a lot easier with ESP off !

the esp can make any one look like a formula one driver but without it is a totally different car I had one of my customers shut his off and he did $ 2,500.00 in body damage and $32,000.00 in damage to the rear cradle and front end the power steering rack is $3,300.00 this was in a clk-500 I also have a clk-500 and have shut mine off before to have al ittle fun but please be careful because you can drive past the point of no return so fast you did not even see the sign on the way by

I can agree that really stupid damage can be done to a car by turning off the ESP. A friend of mine told me to give it a try, that you can whip it around a lil w/the ESP off. I decided to be an @sshole one night and give it a try. I was in my neighborhood and wanted to take a sharp turn to see what it'd be like - if I'd fishtail or what.

I turned it off, whipped around the turn, spun out of control and ran down a fire heidrant in the process. $2,000 later, I had a new front bumper and foglight installed.

The next morning I was just in shock, wondering what in Gds name i was doing treating my $65,000 car like a stolen go-cart.